Every artist obviously has different ways to create art.  Techniques, feelings, emotions & experience all play a role in the finished product.  Painting abstracts for me is just plain fun.  I really feed off colors, emotions and music.  I’m not the type of artist who will take a walk and get instantly inspired by something I see.  For me, it’s more the mood I’m in and the emotions I feel when I’m in front of the canvas.  I think about colors, shapes & forms.  Those items are at the basis of all my artwork.



Music's rhythm and tempo have a big influence on my work.  I love big canvases and I love to paint with big brushes.  I’m not the best at painting small details so that’s probably why I don’t paint portraits.  I find that music can influence the quality and speed with which I apply my large paintbrush or palette knife to the canvas.  How I apply the paint will be reflected in the end result.

For some reason, I’m getting more and more requests about giving art courses.  I never had any interests to teach art.  I’m 100% self-thought and I’m very proud of the fact that I spent hours and hours perfecting my very own techniques.  
 
When I first started painting, I decided that I didn’t want anyone to show me his or her own style.  I didn’t want to be influenced by someone else.  It was important for me to develop my own originality.

I constantly get emails from fans.  I love it as it always makes my day.  From time to time I get emails from aspiring artists.  They are usually looking for tips and tricks.  I don’t mind that either and I often try to help them even if my time is very limited. 

I usually get a lot of requests that land in my inbox.  They come in all sorts of shapes or forms and are very often related to charity events.  Last year, I received an email from a teacher named Kevin. He just recently started a new concept in his classroom and wanted me to be a part of it. 

The email went on to explain how his class was different from the others.  Along with his fellow co-worker Monique, they had created an entrepreneurial concept for a class of grade 4 and grade 5 students in a little village called Saint-Antoine.  The idea is that they create multiple projects over the course of the year and have a group of kids manage it from the ground up.  From planning to presentation to seeking resources and managing the budget, these kids were immersed in their projects from the start.  Since I was working full time back then, I politely declined his offer to spend 4-5 afternoons with the kids, as I couldn’t take time off work to do so.

I've built my art career around creativity. I'm not referring to the creativity of my art but more about how I approach things. I'm a strong believer that if you do what everyone else has done, you will have what everyone else has. I believe that anyone can be an artist. Anyone can see and visualize something great.

For every project I work on, I always ask myself how can this be different? How can this be different enough that it will stand out from the crowd? I had the pleasure to welcome an unknown guest in my studio last month and we started talking about a possible project. One thing led to the other, and I've proposed something to him that no one else is doing in this market. His eyes lit up like a young kid on Christmas morning. I'll reveal more about this project next month but the point here is that creativity should be at the base of everything you do. Without it, you're just like anyone else. You'll just blend in the crowd. Maybe that's what you want and that's totally ok too.